Hospital vs. medical center: Consumers favor 'hospital' title

When it comes to choosing a name--"hospital" or "medical center"--consumers prefer "hospital," according to survey released today by Rivkin & Associates LLC and Bauman Research & Consulting LLC, both based in Glen Rock, N.J. Consumers tend to associate hospitals with more services, better care, new medicine, and expert physicians, compared to medical centers' offerings.

The report showed that survey takers responded with the following data:

"Which would you expect to..."

Hospital

Medical center

Have a wider range of services

61%

31%

Provide patients with better quality medical care

52%

32%

Be on the cutting edge of medicine

53%

37%

Have physicians who are experts in their field

46%

34%

"The conventional wisdom for years has been that the word 'Hospital' was tired and old-fashioned," said Steve Rivkin, founder of Rivkin & Associates, a marketing and communications consultancy, in a statement. "As a result, hundreds of hospitals have dropped the word and renamed themselves Medical Centers."

However, the new research indicates that consumers, that is, patients, may have better associations with the term "hospital" and that hospitals might want to consider that positive thinking when branding their institution.

FEATURED ADVISOR

Jeremy Tucker, D.O., is the medical director of the emergency department at 103-bed MedStar St. Mary's Hospital in Leonardtown, Md., as well as a partner at Medical Emergency Professionals (MEP), a Germantown, Md.-based physician-owned emergency medicine group, which has six facilities in Maryland and one in Bristol, Conn. In addition to his role as medical director, he oversees utilization, patient experience and provider education for MEP and serves on its risk management committee.